I was lucky to catch my best Exocet WindSUP ocean session yet today at Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Forecast was calling for SW winds 10-15 so headed to the beach arriving at 1:30 to beautiful blue skies, warm SW wind at 6-10 knots and 2-3' waves. SW wind here is side on. Rigged 7.5 Aerotech Phantom and affixed 10" True Ames Surfgrass fin to the WindSUP to loosen it up for wave riding.
Although the first few runs in and out were on and off planing the wind soon started picking up to the predicted 10-15 knots with a few periods of around 12-16. The WindSUP easily planed out and over the waves and swells. Coming back in was super fun as it just flew down the swells and you could catch pretty much any wave you wanted to ride.
I decided to sail upwind a ways and kicked the daggerboard down allowing me to cut way up wind and went out about 1/2 mile. I then tacked leaving the dagger board down and sailing way up the beach. It would not plane with the daggerboard fully extended but the speed was enough to quickly make upwind progress. I did this a couple times, passed a couple pods of dolphins, and was almost a 1 1/2 mile up the beach or so when I spotted several kiters. They were way up at least another mile or so upwind from where I was. I made a couple more long upwind tacks both ways using the daggerboard and caught up with the kiters soon after. I estimate by then that we were about 2 miles upwind from where I launched.
The kiters were doing a downwinder so I retracted the daggerboard and started sailing back down wind with them. The WindSUP just came alive. It was full on planing, feet in the straps and I was impressed how fast that big board can go! Blasting along on a broad to deep broad reach, riding down the face of the swells on the outside and catching waves galore on the inside was just incredible fun.
Of course in no time we were back down to where I started. I had to marvel at a SUP type board made for light wind ocean and wave sailing being able to so easily sail that far upwind and then provide such performance and fun coming back. Later I purposefully made a couple very deep almost downwind runs just surfing the swells and letting the board fly along. Then I would kick the daggerboard down and easily get back up wind to where I started. No walks of shame thanks to the daggerboard! Also, the larger volume and stability of the board made tacking and gybing on the inside in the surf zone very easy and forgiving of errors.
The size and volume of the board also makes going out over the surf in light winds much easier and with far less apprehension. This is very comforting when minimally powered in light winds when a wave breaks just in front of you and the board just motors right on over the wall of whitewater rushing towards you.
All in all, this is a great board that totally maximizes your ability to do through the surf - ocean and wave sailing on the lightest of wind days. Would I prefer to be on shorter, smaller board? Yes for the faster turning and quicker overall maneuverability but for really light wind - through the surf conditions, its hard to beat the WindSUP!

had a surprise session yesterday morning early. wind was 12-18 mph side to side off. windSUP was the only board i had. no regrets there.

recently i've been using the X-Cross 130. i had to fiddle around with the foot straps and sail choices to figure out how to get the most out of it. went really deep with the foot straps on it. realized i should have been doing so with the windSUP 11'8 as well.

You talked about "deep footstraps" in your above post. Do you mean inboard mounted straps on the WindSUP in the normal surf sailing position? That is the way I mount them on my WindSUP as I find them better suited for maneuvering the board on the waves and down the swell faces than the outboard settings.

Sounds like great fun! Years ago I had a Fanatic ultra cat that i sailed alot. We get lots of 10-15mph days here, and my short boards just don't cut it. Sold my Cat over 20 years ago, and have never replaced it. I've been agonizing over what to get to replace it with, a windsurfable stand up paddle board or maybe the Kona one. I understand the Kona one can be paddled, but probably not as good as a winsup. Anyone compared the two?

Prior to getting my WindSUP I have owned a Kona One since 2008. It was the first board I ever tried SUP paddling on. Since then I have paddled the Kona One a number of times but will admit, that it is better for windsurfing than paddling.

Although it paddles O.K., due to its narrower and thicker hull design it is not as stable for paddling as the WindSUP and your are standing up higher off the water. This raises your center of gravity higher also contributing to less stability than the WindSUP. That being said, with a little practice and especially on flatter calm waters, the Kona One works just fine for casual paddle cruising.

However, the Exocet WindSUP is much better suited for all around paddling. It is very stable to stand on and even rank beginning paddlers can get right up on it and paddle off. It tracks well and paddles smoothly too. Out on the ocean and thanks to its more classic long board design, and again its good stablity; it paddles out over the surf and through the swells much more easily than the Kona One. Once out it is great for cruising up and down the beach, heading out to check out a pod of dolphins or a sea turtles or just enjoying padding out in the ocean swells. It has the added benefit at being really good for easily catching and riding waves too. Due to its size and 11'8" length though, it is slower to turn and manuever under paddle than a narrower and shorter SUP would be. For those who want to primarily do SUP paddle surfing I believe a SUP designed purely for that purpose will give you more performance and satisfaction.

It is important to remember that both the Kona One and the WindSUP are designed to be good for windsurfing. The Kona One being oriented more towards non wave sailing venues, although it can be used for that; and the WindSUP excelling at light wind Ocean and wave sailing. Therefore both boards are a little heavier than most pure SUP's due to their beefier construction to withstand the rigors of windsurfing and the addition of a daggerboard. They both are great for windsurfing but the WindSUP has the additional benefit of being an excellent all around SUP for flatwater cruising and surf paddling too on the smaller wave days.

Off the beach into the ocean, I use a 29 cm True Ames surfgrass fin on the 11'8 Exocet Windsup. In the river, I use a 38 cm slightly swept back Kona surf fin. This is a great board. I haven't had so much fun windsurfing in a long time. I never thought that my Kona 11'5 would be bumped from the pedestal of most fav board, but there it is--the Exocet 11'8 does it all and replaced the 11'5.....

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